Films Recently Watched

The Conjuring 6.5/10 Decent horror with likeable characters and some good scares

 

Only God Forgives 7.5/10 Looks great, sounds great. All around dark hot seedy bangkok underbelly atmosphere worked really well. Whereas the extreme lack of dialogue and character depth add to the starkness of it all it's also one of the films biggest weaknesses. Think I still prefer this over Drive though.

 

Spring Breakers 7/10 Depressing, lurid. Enjoyable enough but don't think I'll be rewatching this one.

Lone Wolf and Cub - the first two films is all that I have watched thus far and having seen Shogun Assassin several times, it is strange how fleshed out the films are in comparison to the massively edited version Americans were given in the past. I love these films. In their refurbished blu-ray quality, the films look at times as if they were shot yesterday. So beautiful, almost every shot is crystal clear and striking in its composition. A lot of great acting, the over the top comedic facials expressions from extras crack me up! Cub is just too cute, playing with the nipples of Lone Wolf's enemy in order to subdue her. The violence is cheap looking but the action of the blood spray and hacking of limbs is still effective and make me wince when I am watching. In love, thus far, with the series and cannot wait to watch more. JAPAN! 9/10

 

Only God Forgives - compared to Drive, this film is a giant steaming turd. Some of the worst characters put on film with so much needless, laughable, overly serious facial close ups. If we were intended to hate everyone in this film, it succeeded. I loved a lot of the cinematography which is what makes me hate this film even more, potential without any foundation or the need for the audience to give a fuck about anything in the film. The main Thai staring robot dude annoyed the fuck out of me, looked like he was on the verge of laughing at times. So serious, so much needless hatred and violence just thrown onto film will no care of story. The ending was hilariously mistimed, made myself and my friend laugh out loud. I watched an interview on Vice with Refn and now I can say that I really dislike this man. Pretension is not a strong enough word for his attitude to film making, so full of himself and without the talent to validate how much he loves himself. The musical heart of his previous film is gone in this film, there are little hints of great music and then they die just as each scene crumbles into nothingness without anyu weight. Pretty pictures, shit story, shit acting, shit violence and action. Refn needs to be forgiven for making people watch this. 4/10

 

A Field in England - Wow! Having no idea what this was about going in always makes for either a great experience, or most of the time a boring one. This film is an experience. Depending on your outlook and experience in life, it could bore you or open your eyes to new ways of storytelling within film. Such amazing abstractions and wonderful black and white cinematography, magical edits and disjointing scenes where you are not quite sure what is happening but you can't look away even though you might should look away. Suspense from a story involving alchemists, sorcerers, serfs, and war torn ptsd survivors, and mass hallucinations. I loved the depths that we are taken to within such a minimal setting. That's the point of the film, or at least the foundation, which serves as a great platform for an exciting, frightening, trippy, and creative as fuck film to escape by. Going to watch this again very soon. 8/10

  On 8/8/2013 at 2:12 PM, triachus said:

Werner Herzog's Heart Of Glass

 

 

would watch again/10

 

Ooh, need to watch that again.

 

That's the one where most of the cast are in a hypnotic state isn't it?

 

I think I was pretty stoned when I last watched it, which was pretty fitting. But maybe I should try it sober too.

  On 8/6/2013 at 1:51 PM, lumpenprol said:

 

  On 8/5/2013 at 6:51 PM, Redruth said:

 

  On 8/5/2013 at 10:21 AM, MadameChaos said:

 

  On 8/5/2013 at 10:00 AM, Redruth said:

animal kingdom - i've enjoyed this film many times and then, most recently, again, with the same spectacular result.

 

That film is dark, I watched it once and couldn't watch it again.

 

i sometimes like to play in the dark. jacki weaver might well be the best part of this film for me, she is so amazing. i'm hoping she'll team with david lynch as something

 

 

Yeah good call, also you probably thought of that because Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom bears a bit of a resemblance to Grace Zabriskie, that he uses in quite a few of his films:

 

 

 

quite possibly. i think jacki weaver has a definite dl compatibility in her looks, but also her demeanor. this happens to me all the time irl though; i see people all the time, on the streets etc and say to my-selves; 'hey, this person or that person is quite lynchy

  On 8/8/2013 at 8:27 PM, hello spiral said:

 

  On 8/8/2013 at 2:12 PM, triachus said:

Werner Herzog's Heart Of Glass

 

 

would watch again/10

 

Ooh, need to watch that again.

 

That's the one where most of the cast are in a hypnotic state isn't it?

 

I think I was pretty stoned when I last watched it, which was pretty fitting. But maybe I should try it sober too.

 

 

Yes, every actor got hypnotized. Except for the prophet and the glass blowers. It's very interesting to hear Herzog's audio commentary. Most of the movements/gestures the actors made weren't directed. The script was only told to them while they were in trance state. And some dialogue was made up by the hypnotized actor on the fly. It's amazing, really. The movie has this strange awkwardness that I like a lot. Maybe not my favourite Herzog film (which is Aguirre) but still a very interesting one with it's own kind of beauty. One of a kind.

Aguirre is the shit fo'sho.

 

Though I really dig Kasper Hauser and Stroszek also. Don't know if I could pick a favorite.

I heard that Ben Wheatley borrows from these films in A Field in England. I'm embarrassed to say I haven't seen any of them.

How is everyone watching A Field in England? stealing it? I don't see any other way right now in the US.

 

 

 

Dredd

Not as good as The Raid and I kinda hated the raid too

  On 8/8/2013 at 11:51 PM, Jimmy McMessageboard said:

How is everyone watching A Field in England? stealing it?

In the UK it was shown on TV, available to buy on DVD and Bluray, and shown in selected cinemas all on the same day.

The ponce that I am I did the final two (and later purchased the OST)

  On 8/8/2013 at 10:46 PM, MadameChaos said:

I heard that Ben Wheatley borrows from these films in A Field in England. I'm embarrassed to say I haven't seen any of them.

 

I am not sure either, I suck at being a Herzog fan. I enjoy his work but part of his aesthetic doesn't jive with me.

 

I do love My Son My Son What have ye Done and Aguirre.

 

They do not remind of A Field in England at all.

 

@awkward, I stole it but I am going to buy it on blu-ray. Not playing anywhere in Dallas Texas.

 

not too bad, but not great either. definitely better than the last slew of "exorcism" horror films that was spat out by hollywood

 

7 spooky little girls sleep walking out of 10

Arizona Dream 7.5/10 charming, lighthearted stuff. A bit weird too. Johnny Depp's character is how I imagine Salvatorin to be in real life lol

  On 8/9/2013 at 5:59 PM, AJW said:

Arizona Dream 7.5/10 charming, lighthearted stuff. A bit weird too. Johnny Depp's character is how I imagine Salvatorin to be in real life lol

 

lilly taylor looked "gorgeous" in that film. my favorite scene though is vincent gallo re-enacting the scene from north by northwest- coupled with the mariachi band that comes to the house and follows him around (i fink)

 

 

this is a laserdisc of someone playing the entire street fighter 2 arcade game with ryu- then playing each character against ryu with the entire menu select and bonus stages (for each of the characters). it was also sold as a vhs (i suppose) to capitalize on the hype of the video game

 

rated g for general audience

Only God Forgives.

 

At times absolutely brutal (that torture scene!) and hallucinogenic, it's definitely one of the most beguiling and enigmatic films I've seen this year. It's immaculately framed and lit throughout with an excellent score from Cliff Martinez, and Kristen Scott Thomas is absolutely superb.

 

It's one of those films that I think will benefit from a repeat viewing.

 

8.5/10.

Elysium - 6.5/10 - a decent movie was hiding in here somewhere, but what we got in theaters was a much broader appeal high budget version of District 9 minus a lot of the grit and vulgarity that made District 9 so entertaining. Things that were good: the fx looked beautiful, didn't love the droids but the scenery was absolutely top notch. The gore effects were really hard worked on, you see peoples faces getting blown off in slow motion things like that. Other than that it was just attempted to add emotion and sentimental vibes to characters who were basically one dimensional. Instead of going balls deep into Total Recall territory this felt more like Silent Running meets a fast paced action film. Pretty disappointed overall.

 

so... i (kinda) enjoyed this. i say kinda because i feel like i missed something- partly because i didn't understand bits but also because i was lapsing in and out of the world (in the film). i see what it was trying to do/be, and i thoroughly enjoyed the overall plot, but i found the journey a little plodding and some of the effects kinda cheesy and a little "okay, enuff, i get it"

 

and i'd never heard of the director before

a band called death - preferred this to anvil/sugarman and all these sort of things the dudes music was kinda cool + they seemed like cool people and it was an interesting story but the last part when they finally got succesful and had to show henry rollins, kid rock and that guy from lord of the rings to convince you how great they were started to suck + so did their kids playing their dads music

 

- 1st half 7/10 2nd half thumbs up from elijah wood + kid rock /10

margin call

 

heavy handed and melodramatic. my dog is dying of cancer. oh because the dog is a metaphor, right?

 

elysium

 

as predicted, this was shit. take everything good about district 9, throw it out, amp up the peter jackson action movie cliche and you have this movie. lame lame lame. also jodie foster's accent was a huge wtf.

 

 

gotta say, 2013 has been the worst year for movies in recent memory.

Edited August 10, 2013 by zaphod

Just caught The Unbearable Lightness of Being on the BBC Iplayer the other day. Very sexy movie. Haven't read the book so I'm not sure quite how faithful an adaptation it was though...

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa
Definitely better then I thought it would be, being a huge fan i was rather worried as to how it would transition to the big screen - and it did so decently. I think the major problem is that in the episodes the jokes, or rather, awkward moments are allowed to dwell longer, where as in the film the pace and tempo is set much higher so the jokes are thrown at you almost too fast with not enough time to take them all on board - but thats something that i guess will change with future viewings
if you're a fan, defo watch it/10

The Third Man
crash, bang, wallop, what a video/10

lilya 4-ever

depressing as fuck. better than i expected.

  On 8/10/2013 at 10:38 PM, TRiP said:

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

Definitely better then I thought it would be, being a huge fan i was rather worried as to how it would transition to the big screen - and it did so decently. I think the major problem is that in the episodes the jokes, or rather, awkward moments are allowed to dwell longer, where as in the film the pace and tempo is set much higher so the jokes are thrown at you almost too fast with not enough time to take them all on board - but thats something that i guess will change with future viewings

if you're a fan, defo watch it/10

I sat next to a couple who watched it a such a bemusingly (not a word) different level from me that my brain was completely unsure if to sympathise or to just enjoy the fact that we were both happy by the end of it.

 

They sat in complete stony silence except for the female member of the couple occasionally would ask - "are they famous?" or "is that place famous?". The ONLY time they reacted was to -

 

1. The music, if it was playing loudly they would wave their arms in the air

2. The scene where Alan tries/fails to get in through the window of the build (left completely ambiguous so as not to spoil)

3. Whenever there was a swearword

I watched Drive again. Just as good as the first time.

Antiviral was really good. solid 9.5 out of 10 for me. there was a few too many useless closeups of the main character though

We're the Millers - 7/10 predictable but still funny. Sudeikis and Offerman are the highlights, even the kid from Narnia made me chuckle. With the bank it's making will def get a sequel. Aniston's ass was a nice surprise.